ENLIGHT

THIS IS a smart light that enriches reading printed books

Enlight is a desk light that enhances the reading experience for researchers, students and book lovers. It brings features previously limited to eBooks to all books, however hold they may be. Created in collaboration with Sam Wander and Leroy Tellez.

– Concept Development, Research, Interaction Design –

Unlike digital music, which has enough advantages for the majority of consumers to have eclipsed and mostly replace physical formats, eBooks are likely to exist alongside physical books for the long run. In the last few years eBook sales have slowed, but hardcover book sales have risen. This led James Surowiecki of the New Yorker to claim "co-existence is more likely than conquest."

"CO-EXISTENCE IS MORE LIKELY THAN CONQUEST." – JAMES SUROWIECKI IN THE NEW YORKER

We wondered whether in a world where eBooks and printed media continue to co-exist we might miss some of the features eBook technology has made familiar. Furthermore, physical books have features many feel are missing from eBooks, particularly in an academic context. While linear reading can be great on an eReader, skipping around a nonfiction book for research purposes can be a frustrating experience. Image or diagram heavy books can often be more pleasing to consume in print.

PEOPLE LOVE THE TACTILITY OF PRINTED BOOKS BUT HAVE GROWN TO LOVE THE FEATURES OF E-READERS

Enlight utilizes computer vision, optical character recognition, a network connection to an array of data sources and projection-mapping technology to bring a wealth of smart features to print books and documents.

Users can highlight words to see definitions. If a passage is highlighted then contextual encyclopedia definitions, WolframAlpha statistics and other data are provided. They can also scan images and view social highlights from other uses. Each highlight is saved in the left panel, but can be discarded by simply swiping away. In-page highlights can also be "flicked" away to clear the page, without losing the saved highlight itself. Everything saved is synched with the cloud and may be viewed on other devices.